Watch: L.A. news anchors freak out over unseasonable cold snap

Every weekday, PR Daily associate editor Alan Pearcy highlights the day’s most compelling stories and amusing marginalia on the Web in this, #TheDailySpin.

Are there Toros in the atmosphere? That’s the only possible rationale to explain California news anchors’ overly dramatic reactions to a recent unseasonable dip of the mercury. When Los Angeles experienced an infrequent cold snap this week, late-night host Jimmy Kimmel insisted the city’s newscasters’ on-air banter was more unusual than the weather. (via Laughing Squid)

If only those newscasters had been overseas they could have not only warmed up with one of Starbucks U.K.’s specialty priced £1.50 lattes, but also discovered how much “great” news there is to report on Mondays—because “Mondays can be great.” (via The Denver Egotist)

Speaking of Starbucks, the coffee king was officially beat out by Patrick Dempsey and his company Global Baristas LLC when a federal judge approved their bid over that of Starbucks’ to purchase fellow Seattle-based café chain Tully’s. Dempsey might not be able to buy himself love, but he can buy a java franchise.

Walmart is making a lofty purchase with its promise to “Buy American,” the name given to the retailer’s new initiative to both hire veterans in need of a job and procure more products made in the U.S. But will any good PR from the endeavor make up for having ruined Thanksgiving?

Long John Silver’s hopes customers will still line up to buy food after the fast food fish chain overhauls its menu for the first time in nearly a decade. According to Nation’s Restaurant News, the updated menu boards will feature an improved shrimp product, more non-fried entrees, and a wider variety of side dishes.

The Girl Scouts of the U.S.A. should have probably tested the marketing of its newest cookie. Perhaps the organization could have avoided being called out by Gawker, which claims the new “Mango Crèmes with NutriFusion™” tastes like a bunch of “BULLSH*T.” Writes Cathy Weaver:

“Proceeding along to the ingredients list (in scout-talk: The Ingredients Jamboree), one of the first things you'll notice is that there ain't no kind of mango inside this mango cookie.

“There is mushroom concentrate. There is grape concentrate. There is an orange-ish color.

“However ‘mango’ in this instance serves, not as an ingredient, but as a decoration to hang before the rest of the cookie's name. A name which—in case you forgot—ends with the made-up science word ‘NutriFusion™.’”

Nevertheless, such a public lashing may not be as public as you think. This is what The Huffington Post was left to conclude after The New York Time’s David Carr noted his discomfort with newspapers publishing a map of gun permit applications. But fellow journalist Jeff Jarvis disagrees, making the case that reporters, of all people, should be fighting to make more information public.

Journalist or not, Thought Catalog has 25 signs that you’re a writer. No. 12 is my personal favorite: “You’re a little too in love with alliteration, so much so that you’ve thought about giving all your children alliterative names. (Lorelai Lana Lang, I apologize in advance.)”

Meanwhile, the print world honored rival Google for its creativity. The tech giant’s Google Creative Lab unit—home to Google News—won a contest to encourage creativity in print that included a grand prize of $1 million worth of full-page ad space in USA Today. Read the full story in The New York Times.